School: Gort an Gharrdha (roll number 11384)

On this page

1. Famine Stories (continued)

   

   Share Share Post

   (continued from previous page)

   the evictions. The people fled to America and Australia. A tyrannical landlord Wilson wrought havoc on the village of Toomevara. He reduced the village to one third of its size. The paving stones can be still seen on every road leading from the village which marked where houses then stood. The people took shelter in the ruins of an old Abbey beside the present church, and the blackened walls still bear testimony to the fires that were lighted there by those poor homeless people.
   Out of this terrible scourge there grew among the people a veneration for food. They held it as a sacred thing. Never would they waste a morsel. Never was a potato or turnip losing [?] by the wayside. This veneration still lasts among the older people but the younger people do not share it. They regard it as old 'fogism' [sic]. But they are reminded by these old people that perhaps one day they too will learn to revere it out of the

   (continues on next page)

   

   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. time
      1. historical periods by name (~25)
         1. the great famine (~4,013)

   Language

   English

   Informant

   Richard Bourke

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   70

   Occupation

   Mason

   Address

   Blean, Co. Tipperary